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Sweden v Switzerland (2018 World Cup)
| next = }} Sweden v Switzerland was a match which took place at the Piter Arena on Tuesday 3 July 2018. Preview and teams's preparation Sweden named the same side in their final two group games but will have to make at least one change, with Hull midfielder Sebastian Larsson suspended. He is likely to be replaced by either Genoa's Oscar Hiljemark or Seattle Sounders' Gustav Svensson. The wife of Sweden captain Andreas Granqvist is due to give birth on Tuesday, but he has hinted he will play regardless of any developments. Switzerland are without two of their regular back four. Fabian Schar and captain Stephan Lichtsteiner are both serving one-game bans. Michael Lang will deputise for Lichtsteiner at right-back, while Schar's place at centre-back is expected to go to either Johan Djourou or Nico Elvedi. Neither Haris Seferovic nor Mario Gavranovic have convinced up front, so it remains to be seen who leads the line against the Swedes. It is 24 years since Sweden won a knockout game at the World Cup, while opponents Switzerland have not scored a goal at this stage since 1954. But despite that limited pedigree, both will sides will have realistic ambitions of reaching the latter stages in Russia. The Swiss, who sit sixth in the Fifa rankings, are the highest-placed side in the bottom half of the draw, while the Swedes come into this game on a high following the impressive 3-0 win against Mexico, their biggest World Cup victory since 1994. The Swedes had just 24.5% possession against the Germans and 33.5% versus the Mexicans, and are happy to sit deep and play on the counter-attack. It may not please the purists, but midfielder Albin Ekdal is unconcerned. "Who the hell cares?" he said. "We're best at maximising. We can't compete with France or Spain when it comes to skill on the ball, but luckily football is not decided by 'tiki-taka' passes." Head to head This will be the first time these sides have met in a major tournament. The most recent encounter was a 1-1 draw in a friendly in Malmo in 2002. Roy Hodgson was the Swiss coach the last time they beat the Swedes. He guided them to a 4-2 win in a European Championship qualifier in Berne in October 1994. Sweden are unbeaten in the three meetings since then (W1, D2). Match Sweden will play England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup after defeating Switzerland in a strangely compelling but untidy tie in St Petersburg. Emil Forsberg struck the decisive blow midway through the second half with a shot that deflected off the luckless Manuel Akanji and left Yann Sommer stranded in the Swiss goal. Sommer had brilliantly clawed away a shot on the turn from Marcus Berg in the first half and denied Haris Seferovic late on but it was undoubtedly a game that was more about missed opportunities than good saves. Both sides were guilty of squandering good openings - and Switzerland ended it with 10 men after Michael Lang was dismissed in injury time for a push on Martin Olsson, who was clean through on goal. The referee initially gave a penalty but changed his decision to a free-kick after a review. That will not bother the Swedes, who have reached the last eight of this competition for the first time since 1994. The bottom half of the draw at the World Cup offers a superb opportunity for a relatively unfancied team to reach the final. Going into Tuesday's two remaining last-16 ties, one of Switzerland, Sweden, England, Colombia, Croatia and Russia was certain of reaching the final. Of these, only the Swiss are in the top 10 of Fifa's rankings. And while the match in St Petersburg could not be said to lack passion or goalmouth incidents, the quality of finishing gave the impression that neither side was capable of taking the glorious opportunity in front of them. The worst miss was by Sweden's Albin Ekdal, who was superbly picked out by Mikael Lustig's beautifully weighted cross but horribly ballooned his strike well wide. A header would have been a much better option. Striker Marcus Berg snatched a shot off target too after Ola Toivonen's deft flick created the opening and had another effort blocked. But it was not just the Swedes who were guilty of profligacy in front of goal. Steven Zuber was off target with a near-post header and later exchanged a series of passes with Blerim Dzemaili, who had a great opening from 16 yards but again showed a lack of composure that let the game down at key moments. Sweden finished ahead of the Netherlands in their qualifying group and then defeated Italy in a play-off tie to reach the World Cup. Once here they finished top of a group that included champions Germany. Underestimate them at your peril. They averaged 38% possession in the group stage and just 33% against the Swiss, but they probably created more good scoring chances than their opponents. They were organised and obdurate, playing with a discipline that allowed them to frustrate the Swiss and try to strike on the counter. They have a team that lacks star quality in the post-Zlatan Ibrahimovic era but they know what they are good at - and how to win football matches. And when at the end the Swiss pressed for an equaliser, Forsberg cleared from close to his goal and several team-mates put in desperate blocks as they showed that they will provide a difficult test for anyone who wants to stop them reaching the final. It was an afternoon laced with regret for a Switzerland side that struggled to wear down their disciplined opponents. Vladimir Petkovic's team had lost just one of their last 25 games and come through a group stage in Russia that included Brazil and Serbia. And having not reached the last eight at the World Cup for 64 years, Switzerland were favourites to win a tie against supposedly limited opponents. But their timing was off when it mattered most - perhaps epitomised most by one completely miscued strike from Granit Xhaka after Xherdan Shaqiri had played the ball invitingly into his path on the hour mark. And even when substitute Haris Seferovic did guide a header towards goal he was denied by a good save from Robin Olsen. Details |goals2 = |stadium = Piter Arena, Saint Petersburg |attendance = 64,042 |referee = Damir Skomina (Slovenia) }} |valign="top"| |valign="top" width="50%"| |} Match Stats Match Stats= {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |- !width=130|Overall !width=70|Sweden !width=70|Switzerland |- !scope=row|Goals scored |1||0 |- !scope=row|Total shots |12||18 |- !scope=row|Shots on target |3||4 |- !scope=row|Ball possession |33%||67% |- !scope=row|Corner kicks |3||11 |- !scope=row|Fouls committed |11||13 |-| See also *2018 FIFA World Cup :*2018 FIFA World Cup knockout stage External links *Match report at BBC.co.uk Category:2018 FIFA World Cup Matches